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John Beaver compares the coordina­tion required to manage a $42 million renovation and addition project on a multi-building school campus to a “chess match.” “The biggest challenge we’ve encountered here was keeping three existing schools operating while we’ve built around them,” says Beaver, a project manager for North Branch Construction. North Branch is the construction manager for the Kingswood Regional School project in Wolfeboro, N.H., for client Governor Wentworth Regional School District.

The campus consists of Kingswood High School, Kingswood Middle School and a vocational technical education center. A total of 300,000 square feet in renovations and addition projects is underway in all three schools. “The school district administration and staff have been extremely flexible and worked hand-in-hand with us in planning the areas we’re working on and when they would be turned over, so educational programs can be temporarily moved,” Beaver adds.

The renovation and addition work is the second phase of a building project that commenced in May 2010 with the construction of a 50,000-square-foot performing arts center as well as six new athletic fields. Construction of the Kingswood Arts Center, performed by North Branch in a general contracting capacity, concluded in November 2010. The renovation and addition portion of the project is scheduled for a July 2012 completion, the company says.

The $18 million arts center is serving as the temporary home for several classes and educational programs while renovations proceed. “We’ve probably touch­ed about 90 percent of the inside of all three schools to different degrees – some areas we’ve gutted down to the bare floor and walls, and other changes have been more cosmetic,” Beaver adds.

Tom Boudette, a project clerk representing the school district, explains the work is needed to bring the three schools up to modern operating standards. The high school building was built in the early 1960s, while both the middle school and vocational center date back at least 20 years. Voters in the six towns served by the district approved a referendum in March 2009 allowing the district to sell bonds to proceed with the project after two prior attempts failed.

“The six towns in this district deserve accolades for their support to this project and the commitment they made to supporting the education of children in this district,” Boudette adds. “The voters made this happen.”

High Performance

Kingswood High School, the oldest of the three facilities, is sustaining the bulk of the renovations, with all interior spaces being redesigned. New additions include lecture halls, a television studio, a media center, weight rooms and three new gymnasiums. All three schools are receiving new roofs as well as seismic bracing and asbestos abatement work.

The centerpiece of the concrete, steel and masonry Kingswood Arts Center is an 850-seat auditorium. The center also includes art, music and drama classrooms, a mechanical and electrical mezzanine and full theatrical lighting and sound systems. Five of the six new athletic fields feature natural turf. 

All work on the four-building campus is being done to Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) specifications. This includes a number of water conservation features including a parking lot with porous pavement and the use of rainwater storage tanks, which will capture rainwater for re-use in athletic field irrigation.

Additionally, a geothermal heating and cooling system will serve all four buildings on the campus. “I think this system is really the banner part of the entire project,” Beaver says.

The Local Touch

The Kingswood campus project represents the collaboration of a number of New Hampshire-based contractors and designers. Architects Chip Krause and Al Corzilius of CMK Architects of Man­ches­ter, N.H., designed both phases of the project. Concord, N.H.-based North Branch hired several local subcontractors to work on the project who in turn are hiring local craftsmen. One of North Branch’s superintendents working on the project is a graduate of the Kings­wood schools, Beaver notes. 

“It was important to all of us to use as many local vendors as were qualified to do the project,” he adds. 

North Branch Construction is a full-service general contractor and construction manager serving New Hampshire and northern Massachusetts. The company’s portfolio includes projects in the commercial, institutional, industrial, municipal and high-end residential sectors, Beaver says. 

The company is particularly proud of its history in green construction. North Branch completed its first official “Energy Crafted Home” in Bedford, Mass., in 1997. The home features a geothermal heat pump system, wind generator and other energy-saving features. “Sustainable construction is more than just saving energy; it’s an environmentally responsible design and construction philosophy,” the company says.